- Email: [email protected]
Canadian Geographical Information Systems Source Book
529
Reviews
With the exception of the “Query” and “Circle” options, which are feasible only online, this is a product not enhanced by its release and distribution in this format, especially as it is essentially trying to mimic the print format. Keyword search access is limited, file viewability is limited to four columns at a time out of 80, and accessing the menu bar function requires an annoying combination of commands. For straightforward reference look-up, the paperbound print edition of this title is probably quicker, cheaper and more user-friendly, but for some degree of data manipulation (i.e., custom tables with selected elements) or if the intent is to export for spreadsheet operations such as in Lotus@’ or dBase@, then the CD may be worth the purchase. For optimum use of this product, CACI should address documentation inadequacies online and in print, simplify the command structure of the menu bar, which is awkward and unintuitive, and expand the context-sensitive help. DONNA L. BURTON Government Documents/Reference Schaffer Libary, Union College Schenectady, NY 12308 USA
Canadian Geographical Information Systems Source Book. Ottawa: on Geomatics, 1995.333~. CAN $39.95.
Inter-Agency
Committee
The Canadian Geographical Information Systems Source Book aims at providing a snapshot of the Canadian Geographic Information Systems (GIS) community in 1994, focusing on Canadian sources of GIS-related activities, capabilities, and information, including georeferenced databases. The Source Book documents GIS activities in industry, government, education/training and associations. The information for the industry section was gathered through surveys. The information is presented in four forms: a directory of companies listed alphabetically, a listing by province, profiles on each company, and three sets of tables describing the services and resources of each company. The federal government section focuses mainly on directories of databases. The major source of information is a study of federal government databases completed in 1992. There is also a provincial and territorial government section, and selected municipal responses to the survey are included. To collect information on education and training, survey questionnaires were distributed to all universities, colleges, and educational institutions that offer GIS-related courses. Descriptions of activities, research, and course offerings are presented for 46 responding institutions. There is also a separate list of education and training institutions and organizations. The section on associations contains a directory and profile of organizations representing members and industry within the GIS community. Information was gathered from direct survey questionnaires. The Canadian Geographical Information Systems Source Book does not cover as many topics as the International GZS Source Book, but the information it provides is well organized and clearly presented. The entries on each organization are informative, through the company descriptions have obviously been written by the companies themselves. The name and telephone number of a contact person is included, and the e-mail address is included when available. The three sets of tables indexing companies by type of service, products, software, and hardware are helpful in locating a company for a specific purpose. There is no comparable listing for the government entries, so the reader is forced to browse to find a specific dataset or service. The information on datasets is not as detailed as that in the U.S. Federal Geographic Data Manual, but it would serve the same purpose. The section on education and training is quite detailed-for example, specific courses are listed. Currency may present a problem with this listing. The association listings include the objectives, publications, and events sponsored by the group. The information is presented in the language of submission of the survey form and/or source document, so some of the entries are in French. There is no index. The various questionnaires used to gather data are included in Appendix A. The price of the work is reasonable, and the format is attractive. The work contains no advertisements, unlike the International GIS Source Book.
530
Reviews
The Source Book is a unique resource that will be essential for Canadian libraries. Libraries in the United States that have a special interest in Canada or GIS would find it a useful reference.
MARGARET S. BRILL Public Documents and Maps Department William R. Perkins Library Duke University Durham, NC 277Og-0177 USA
Women in a Changing Global Economy: 1994 World Survey on the Role of Women in Develop ment. United Nations Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development. New
York: United Nations. 1995.105~. ISBN 92-l-130163-7. UN Sales No. E.95.IV.l. $9.95. Women in a Changing Global Economy: 1994 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development is the third such survey undertaken by the Department for Policy Coordination and Sus-
tainable Development of the United Nations. This report looks at the role of women in the growth of the world economy. The survey looks at three issues-poverty, productive employment, and economic decision making. The Survey was written to be used as the basic document for the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equity, Development and Peace. The United Nations also plans to use these results in its ongoing dialogue on development. The book is divided into five sections. An executive summary at the beginning provides a good overview of the volume. An introduction explains the data sources used, why the gender approach to the study was chosen and how the research was performed, a brief explanation about why data and studies that do not look at human development and sustainability by looking at gender may be biased, and a brief look at the changes that have enabled women to share in the economy more fully in the last 10 years. The first section of the book deals with the idea of global economic restructuring. It points out that the world has gone through rapid change in the past decade. This section looks at the opportunities, challenges, and setbacks that these changes have created for gender equity. Section two deals with poverty and its effects on women. It delves into the problems of economic growth and the persistence of poverty; differences that gender makes on poverty; problems female-headed households face when dealing with poverty; and the role of the state, market, and community in the problems created by poverty. Section three defines productive employment. The feminization of employment is one of the most important economic changes of the past decade, according to the authors. There has been a rapid growth in the number of women in the work force. Though the number of employed women has increased, they are still underpaid, often underutilized, and often exploited by their employers. Section four discusses women and economic decision making. Though the number of women in the workplace has increased rapidly, their participation in economic decision making is still very limited. It was noted that women are still secondary to men in traditionally female-dominated professions and sections such as teaching and nursing. Men move through the ranks much more quickly in these professions than women. Section five attempts to reach some conclusions about how to increase women’s effective participation in development. Because of many of the economic changes that have taken place over the past decade, women have been very important. However, their contribution is often not easily visible. One of the areas that must be addressed in order to solve gender inequity is getting women into the top levels of administration and into policy making and program development in both the public and private sectors of employment. The reviewer found this book very readable and well documented. A variety of sources are used to develop the framework for the discussion. The authors use graphs and tables to represent visually many of the statistics used to support their arguments. These add to the overall effect of the volume. When the table has world statistics and then breaks out the numbers for the United States, it illustrates that without figures from the United States many of the percentages and numbers would be very low. Each section ends with a works-cited list. A wide variety of sources are used to gather information for the book, including, but not exclusively, United Nations statistics.
Reviews
With the exception of the “Query” and “Circle” options, which are feasible only online, this is a product not enhanced by its release and distribution in this format, especially as it is essentially trying to mimic the print format. Keyword search access is limited, file viewability is limited to four columns at a time out of 80, and accessing the menu bar function requires an annoying combination of commands. For straightforward reference look-up, the paperbound print edition of this title is probably quicker, cheaper and more user-friendly, but for some degree of data manipulation (i.e., custom tables with selected elements) or if the intent is to export for spreadsheet operations such as in Lotus@’ or dBase@, then the CD may be worth the purchase. For optimum use of this product, CACI should address documentation inadequacies online and in print, simplify the command structure of the menu bar, which is awkward and unintuitive, and expand the context-sensitive help. DONNA L. BURTON Government Documents/Reference Schaffer Libary, Union College Schenectady, NY 12308 USA
Canadian Geographical Information Systems Source Book. Ottawa: on Geomatics, 1995.333~. CAN $39.95.
Inter-Agency
Committee
The Canadian Geographical Information Systems Source Book aims at providing a snapshot of the Canadian Geographic Information Systems (GIS) community in 1994, focusing on Canadian sources of GIS-related activities, capabilities, and information, including georeferenced databases. The Source Book documents GIS activities in industry, government, education/training and associations. The information for the industry section was gathered through surveys. The information is presented in four forms: a directory of companies listed alphabetically, a listing by province, profiles on each company, and three sets of tables describing the services and resources of each company. The federal government section focuses mainly on directories of databases. The major source of information is a study of federal government databases completed in 1992. There is also a provincial and territorial government section, and selected municipal responses to the survey are included. To collect information on education and training, survey questionnaires were distributed to all universities, colleges, and educational institutions that offer GIS-related courses. Descriptions of activities, research, and course offerings are presented for 46 responding institutions. There is also a separate list of education and training institutions and organizations. The section on associations contains a directory and profile of organizations representing members and industry within the GIS community. Information was gathered from direct survey questionnaires. The Canadian Geographical Information Systems Source Book does not cover as many topics as the International GZS Source Book, but the information it provides is well organized and clearly presented. The entries on each organization are informative, through the company descriptions have obviously been written by the companies themselves. The name and telephone number of a contact person is included, and the e-mail address is included when available. The three sets of tables indexing companies by type of service, products, software, and hardware are helpful in locating a company for a specific purpose. There is no comparable listing for the government entries, so the reader is forced to browse to find a specific dataset or service. The information on datasets is not as detailed as that in the U.S. Federal Geographic Data Manual, but it would serve the same purpose. The section on education and training is quite detailed-for example, specific courses are listed. Currency may present a problem with this listing. The association listings include the objectives, publications, and events sponsored by the group. The information is presented in the language of submission of the survey form and/or source document, so some of the entries are in French. There is no index. The various questionnaires used to gather data are included in Appendix A. The price of the work is reasonable, and the format is attractive. The work contains no advertisements, unlike the International GIS Source Book.
530
Reviews
The Source Book is a unique resource that will be essential for Canadian libraries. Libraries in the United States that have a special interest in Canada or GIS would find it a useful reference.
MARGARET S. BRILL Public Documents and Maps Department William R. Perkins Library Duke University Durham, NC 277Og-0177 USA
Women in a Changing Global Economy: 1994 World Survey on the Role of Women in Develop ment. United Nations Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development. New
York: United Nations. 1995.105~. ISBN 92-l-130163-7. UN Sales No. E.95.IV.l. $9.95. Women in a Changing Global Economy: 1994 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development is the third such survey undertaken by the Department for Policy Coordination and Sus-
tainable Development of the United Nations. This report looks at the role of women in the growth of the world economy. The survey looks at three issues-poverty, productive employment, and economic decision making. The Survey was written to be used as the basic document for the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equity, Development and Peace. The United Nations also plans to use these results in its ongoing dialogue on development. The book is divided into five sections. An executive summary at the beginning provides a good overview of the volume. An introduction explains the data sources used, why the gender approach to the study was chosen and how the research was performed, a brief explanation about why data and studies that do not look at human development and sustainability by looking at gender may be biased, and a brief look at the changes that have enabled women to share in the economy more fully in the last 10 years. The first section of the book deals with the idea of global economic restructuring. It points out that the world has gone through rapid change in the past decade. This section looks at the opportunities, challenges, and setbacks that these changes have created for gender equity. Section two deals with poverty and its effects on women. It delves into the problems of economic growth and the persistence of poverty; differences that gender makes on poverty; problems female-headed households face when dealing with poverty; and the role of the state, market, and community in the problems created by poverty. Section three defines productive employment. The feminization of employment is one of the most important economic changes of the past decade, according to the authors. There has been a rapid growth in the number of women in the work force. Though the number of employed women has increased, they are still underpaid, often underutilized, and often exploited by their employers. Section four discusses women and economic decision making. Though the number of women in the workplace has increased rapidly, their participation in economic decision making is still very limited. It was noted that women are still secondary to men in traditionally female-dominated professions and sections such as teaching and nursing. Men move through the ranks much more quickly in these professions than women. Section five attempts to reach some conclusions about how to increase women’s effective participation in development. Because of many of the economic changes that have taken place over the past decade, women have been very important. However, their contribution is often not easily visible. One of the areas that must be addressed in order to solve gender inequity is getting women into the top levels of administration and into policy making and program development in both the public and private sectors of employment. The reviewer found this book very readable and well documented. A variety of sources are used to develop the framework for the discussion. The authors use graphs and tables to represent visually many of the statistics used to support their arguments. These add to the overall effect of the volume. When the table has world statistics and then breaks out the numbers for the United States, it illustrates that without figures from the United States many of the percentages and numbers would be very low. Each section ends with a works-cited list. A wide variety of sources are used to gather information for the book, including, but not exclusively, United Nations statistics.